This invention relates generally to exercise monitors and more particularly to an improved exercise monitor that records and displays to the user a number of exercise parameters, including time, distance, speed, and energy expended while walking, jogging or running repetitively along a predetermined course. The user may input information that serves to control the time, distance, and/or pace of exercise.
The most common prior art means employed by walkers and runners to obtain feedback information while they exercise is to mentally record and accumulate the number of course laps completed. Given the known distance of the course, the total distance covered can then be calculated. Using a stopwatch or timer, the user can determine the time spent during the workout and can compute the average speed. This method requires that the exerciser's total attention be focused on recording and accumulating completed laps for the duration of the workout. It is tedius, detracts from the enjoyment of the workout, and often leads to inaccuracies in the user's calculations.
A handheld mechanical counter may be carried by the user and manually activated once each lap to accumulate completed laps. However, these rudimentary devices are disadvantageous in that they require the attention of the user to insure accurate recording of each lap. Time and distance calculations must still be made mentally.
Exemplary of prior art electronic pedometers is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,190 to Sochaczevski. Such devices perform calculations of time, distance, speed, and energy expended. However, they determine distance traveled by sensing and accumulating the number of strides taken by the user. Thus, their accuracy depends on the stride length provided as an input by the user and the accuracy of the stride detecting mechanism. Since stride length varies from user to user, pedometers are not universally independent of user characteristics. Additional inaccuracy of these devices results from the fact that a given user's stride length is not maintained constant during a particular workout.
Other known devices for lap counting or position monitoring are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,780,085 to Malone, 4,857,886 to Crews, and 5,136,621 to Mitchell et al. Each of these devices relies upon a single, stationary sensing unit that incorporates a data processing unit. A signal from a transmitter worn by the user is received and processed by the sensing unit to provide the desired information. Since the processing unit is stationary, the computed parameters of interest are not available to the user on a real time basis. Also, the signal transmitter/receiver pair must be unique for each user, requiring multiple transmitter/receiver pairs for simultaneous use of the same track by multiple users.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an interactive exercise monitor that computes and displays time, distance, pace, and energy expended by a user who walks or runs around a predetermined course.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an interactive exercise monitor into which the user may enter desired values of workout time, distance to be traveled, and pace to be maintained.
These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention by providing a stationary transmitter located along the workout course and a receiver carried by the user. The stationary transmitter emits a limited range signal that is detected by the receiver each time the user passes in close proximity to the transmitter during the workout. The receiver includes a central processing unit into which the precise distance of the course may be preprogrammed and that is then capable of computing distance accumulated by the user, elapsed time, and other desired parameters. In addition, the user may enter information such as his or her weight and a desired time, distance, and pace of the workout into the receiver.